Hell Courtesan
1871–89
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold, and silver on silk
- Dimensions
- 144.2 × 67.6 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-113237
Kawanabe Kyōsai repeated this large-scale composition with variations a number of times. In this version, a famous 15th-century courtesan known for wearing a robe with images of the Buddhist hells stands before a folding screen. Legend has it that she was abducted by bandits, and wore the garment to symbolize her belief that her suffering in her current life was punishment for sins committed in a former life. Here, in a parody depiction of the garment, the courtesan stands in for Benzaiten, the goddess of everything that flows, while the remaining members of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune app…
Provenance
Kelvin Smith, 1985.268
Registry history
- 1871–89 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
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